So I have reached the point of my graduation...

I am finally finished with this trial that we all call "College" and I now face the real world. Scary.

Now I have questions for those who hire english majors. Be it those of you in the publishing fields, to those in education. Anyone with experience in being hired as an english major would be helpful in answering my questions.

Here is my plight.

I have very little experience in my field of expertise. In reality, I would really just like to finish the book that I have been writing and forget ever having to have a normal job, but that is not so easy to do, much less easy to get published. If I can't spend the majority of my life writing novels, I would love to read them. I read at almost 1300 wpm at times. I am an avid reader, and to have a job such as what I just described would be heaven.

However, I need interships to make my resume look like it isn't something that a 16 year old could have accomplished. The fact that I worked all the way through college to pay my way is not as beneficial as I would have hoped so far.

Here are my questions:

1)What ways can I make myself desireable to employers even if I don't have a ton of experience? I just need a way to get an interview. I can sell myself from there. I have never been denied a job once I receive an interview.

2)For the two jobs posted above, what are good pathways to take to get to my goal? Once again, the careers that I would love to have would be a novelist, or a person that reads would-be novelists

Oh, man. I'm not an english major, nor do I hire them, but you sound just like me otherwise. I'd love to spend all my time writing novels and living off the profits. Needless to say, that's not easy.

1)What ways can I make myself desireable to employers even if I don't have a ton of experience? I just need a way to get an interview. I can sell myself from there. I have never been denied a job once I receive an interview.Let's see your resume! One thing to do might be to emphasize whatever work experience you do have, and play down the English major part of it. You're more likely to be hired at this point based on other interests and skills. Are you a computer enthusiast? What else are you good at? What other jobs have you had?

2)For the two jobs posted above, what are good pathways to take to get to my goal? Once again, the careers that I would love to have would be a novelist, or a person that reads would-be novelistsThese are very, very difficult jobs to get because there are tons of wannabe novelists like you and me out there. The best thing you can do to become a novelist is to write. A lot. No, I mean more than that. No, even more than that. Write A LOT. And start trying to get published everywhere; a lot of colleges have literary magazines and stuff, that's a good place to start. Finish up your novel and submit it to every publisher you can. Even if you don't get published immediately, you'll get some feedback and some name recognition with the people you submit to.

As for becoming an editor, that's a tough one. You'll probably have to start out as an editor's bitch and work your way up. I don't know how you get that job, but start hitting up the major publishers' websites and look for job postings. Also, talk to the career center at your college if there is one, they might have some contacts in the industry you could talk to for advice.

3)What are some resources that I can use to my benefit?It would not hurt to have a "portfolio" of your written work handy so that you can provide samples of your writing should anyone ask for it. Also, use your college's resources to the fullest; talk to your professors and the head of the english dept. and anyone else you can who might have any inkling of an idea how to proceed.

Honestly, if you are dedicated to being a writer, you might be better off staying in school to get a post-graduate degree and going into academia. This would also give you a chance to spend some more time on writing-oriented internships and time to start submitting writing to various publishers.

I would highly recommend internships in journalism. You will probably start out as a lowly and despised copy editor, but it's easy work for someone with a talent for the written word, it will improve your writing skills, it will introduce you to opportunities to move up in the writing world, and it will look good on resumes. Start looking into locally-published newspapers and magazines.

I have seriously considered going for a journalism internship, but I worry that at the same time, I am suddenly going to be in a virtual 'box' where my career path will keep me there. I guess there is always the ability to change, but I would be concerned about that.

I think it would be helpful for you to post your resume so that everyone can see where you're starting at and what kind of experience you have and the presentation of your resume. Does your school have any services to help you find a job or to give you interview tips/practice and resume writing tips?